Millennials Favor Parenting Over Marriage, Survey Shows

Posted by tinaMar 25 2011

It used to be marriage came before the baby carriage, but young people in particular are beginning to place more importance on parenthood than getting hitched.

Based on results of multiple surveys, it looks like the value of marriage may be falling by the wayside. In a survey conducted by the PEW Research Center on Americans aged 18 to 29 (known as “Millennials”), analysis showed that while 52 percent of the demographic considered good parenting to be important, only 30 percent felt the same way about marriage. This is vastly different from the results of the same survey conducted 10 years earlier (on Gen X’ers), in which 42 percent emphasised good parenting and 35 percent successful marriages.

This shift in perception could be linked to a number of factors – increase in the average marrying age, rising divorce rates, greater acceptance of and support for single parenting, as well as the rising support for gay marriage. Many young people are publicly voicing their intentions to forego marriage until it is a right for everyone.

The change in attitude is echoed in other analyses, which show that less Millenials are currently married than Gen-X’ers were at their age (22 percent to 30 percent), and also that more babies born outside of marriage nowadays than 10 years ago for the age group (51 percent to 39 percent). Still, the overall number of babies born to this age group has decreased, going from 41 percent in 1998 to 36 percent in 2010.

The survey has revealed many interesting findings and speculations on causes for results – for a complete breakdown and information on the data itself, visit pewsocialtrends.org.